Ask-A-Linguist Message Details

Subject:

Semantics or pragmatics?

Question:

Hello,
I was wondering which area of linguistics deals with perceived vs.
intended meaning of a word. For example, if I say the word
''socialism'', it has certain connotations for me, but my listener might
have very different connotations. Would that be semantics or
pragmatics?
Thank you,
Jessi